As I am contemplating my message, inspired by the quote above, a random thought crossed my mind that it reminds of the Capital One commercial which asks: “What’s in your wallet?” A corollary is “What’s in your heart?” Imagine that at birth, you are given a suitcase of any size, shape, color and configuration of your choosing. You are told that you can fill it with love, healing, kindness, generosity, creativity, fun, play, renewal, abundance, and curiosity in whatever quantities you select. It is ever expanding, so you will never run out of room for these states of being. All throughout your life, as you experience your daily encounters with people and events, you see more that you would like to take home with you and so you scoop them up and toss them into your luggage. Are you willing to let life be that simple, without second guessing whether these things belong to you? What if you knew they were your birthright? Would you/could you ever turn them down?

My heart-suitcase is a repository for my relationships with folks who are actively in my life, as well as those I don’t see as often and those who are now in Spirit, having taken their own journey to ‘other lands’. Outstretched further are those on social media sites who trust me enough for them to share their most heart felt wishes and blisses, as well as troubling fears. Over the weekend, at a music festival, I witnessed interactions between people discovering each other for the first time in awhile as they hugged their delighted hello’s. Even though I didn’t know them, still I experienced a vicarious rush. It was wonderful to see people lovin’ on each other, rather than fighting each other, as they celebrated their relationships. I was also blessed to be in the presence of people with whom I share a great deal of connection who introduced me to folks that they knew, that I had not yet met. I call them ‘overlapping soul circles’, the name of which came to me a few years ago during a meditation in which I saw us all as stars, dancing in the heavens and began stringing ourselves together in unique and interwoven designs. It illustrates that the six degrees of separation concept can occur serendipitously. In my life, I like to say that there are no degrees of separation, since I always know someone who knows someone that I know. This small world is getting even smaller as we expand our heart parameters. I have know many whom I consider ‘heart friends’ who know me by heart and vice versa. I few years ago, the words “I hold your heart sacred.” came through and it resonated with the feeling that I have when I consider those dear ones who so delight me by their presence in my life.

So, on this brand new day, as you set out to face the world, what size carrying case will you tote with you in which to collect souvenirs from your day trippin’ ?

Edie Weinstein

Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman’s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.